In December 1935 the TA's 46th (North Midland) Division (which also acted as HQ for the North Midland Area of Northern Command) was disbanded and its headquarters was converted into 2nd Anti-Aircraft (AA) Division to control the increasing number of AA units being created. At first it administered all AA units in Great Britain outside London and the Home Counties, which were covered by 1st Anti-Aircraft Division. The new division was first organised at York, but shortly afterwards took over 46 Division's HQ at Normanton, Derby.
By the end of 1936 the division had the following order of battle, though many of the units were in an easily stage of formation or conversion:
General Officer Commanding: Major-General James Harrison
30th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 in Sunderland
62nd (North and East Riding) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery (RA) – AA guns
63rd (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA – AA guns
64th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA – AA guns
37th (Tyne) Anti-Aircraft Battalion (Tyne Electrical Engineers), Royal Engineers (RE) – searchlights
47th (The Durham Light Infantry) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE – searchlights
31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 in Retford
66th (Leeds Rifles) (The West Yorkshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns
67th (The York and Lancaster Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns
43rd (The Duke of Wellington's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
46th (The Lincolnshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
32nd (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 at Normanton
69th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns
40th (The Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
42nd (The Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
44th (The Leicestershire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
45th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Group organised at Chester
65th (The Manchester Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns
38th (The King's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
41st (5th North Staffordshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
40, 41, 42, 44 and 46 AA battalions had previously been infantry battalions in 46th Division.
In 1938 the Royal Artillery replaced the traditional unit designation 'Brigade' by 'Regiment', which allowed the AA Groups to take the more usual formation title of Brigades.
The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis. Because the organisation of 2 AA Division and its component units was not yet complete, it was only partially mobilised. The emergency mobilisation lasted nearly three weeks before the TA units were released on 14 October. The experience led to improvements in equipment scales, and a rapid expansion of AA defences brought many new AA gun and searchlight units into existence. In November 1938, 31 and 33 AA Bdes transferred to the newly formed 7th Anti-Aircraft Division and 4th Anti-Aircraft Division respectively. In 1939, 30 AA Bde also joined 7 AA Division. They were replaced in 2 AA Division by new brigadescreated in September 1938: 39th at Retford in Nottinghamshire and 40th and 41st in London. 39th AA Bde also transferred to 7th AA Division just before the outbreak of war. In April 1939, AA Command was formed to control all the AA gun and searchlight defences of the United Kingdom.
Major-General Harrison was transferred to command RA Training Establishments and was replaced as GOC 2 AA Division on 30 May 1939 by Maj-Gen Claude Grove-White.
The deterioration in international relations during 1939 led to a partial mobilisation in June, and a proportion of TA AA units manned their war stations under a rotation system known as 'Couverture'. Full mobilisation of AA Command came in August 1939, ahead of the declaration of war on 3 September 1939.
On the outbreak of war 2 AA Division had the following order of battle:
GOC: Major-General M.F. Grove-White
HQ: RAF Hucknall
32nd (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade at Derby
68 (North Midland) AA Regt RA
42 (Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) AA Bn RE (as above)
44 (Leicestershire Regiment) AA Bn RE (as above)
50 (Northamptonshire Regiment) AA Bn RE
32 AA Bde Company, Royal Army Service Corps (RASC)
40th Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 29 September 1938 at South Ealing, London'
33 (St Pancras) AA Bn RE
36 (Middlesex) AA Bn RE
58 (Middlesex) AA Bn RE
9th Bn Middlesex Regiment (60th Searchlight Regiment)
10th (3rd City of London) Bn Royal Fusiliers (69th Searchlight Regiment)
40 AA Bde Company, RASC
41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 29 September 1938 in Chelsea, London
78 (1st East Anglian) AA Regt RA
32 (7th City of London) AA Bn RE
1/6th Bn Essex Regiment (64th Searchlight Regiment)
2/6th Bn Essex Regiment (65th Searchlight Regiment)
41 AA Bde Company, RASC
50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 24 August 1939 at Hucknall
26 LAA Regt RA – mobile reserve
2 AA Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS), at Hucknall
2 AA Divisional Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) at Carter's Green, West Bromwich
904, 929 Companies
932 Company (joined July 1941)
2 AA Divisional Company, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), at Hucknall
2 AA Divisional Workshop Company, Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), at Hucknall
When these units went to their war stations, the division had 97 heavy AA (HAA) guns (3-inch and 3.7-inch)ready for action, distributed as follows:
Hull: 28 (plus 2 out of action)
Leeds: 24 (plus 6 out of action)
Sheffield: 20 (plus 3 out of action)
Derby: 6
Nottingham: 6 (plus 2 out of action)
The division also had 6 3-inch and 12 40mm Bofors light AA (LAA) guns, as well as 88 light machine guns (LMGs).
By 11 July, at the start of the Battle of Britain, this had risen to 231 guns of all types (HAA and LAA excluding LMGs):
Leighton Buzzard: 4
Nottingham: 16
Derby: 40
Humber: 38
Mobile battery: 8
Airfields: 20 (mainly LAA)
Vital points: 82 (mainly LAA)
In August 1940, all RE AA battalions became Searchlight regiments of the RA, and AA regiments became HAA regiments to distinguish them from the new LAA regiments being formed.
In July 1940, at the height of invasion fears, a mobile column called 'Macduff' was formed by 50th AA Bde, consisting of one HAA battery and one S/L Company to operate directly under 2 AA Division, available to combat enemy paratroopers.
By late 1940, 2 AA Division formed part of 2 AA Corps. Grove-White had been promoted on 11 November to command the new corps and it shared 2 AA Division's HQ at RAF Hucknall. The brigades were the same, but by February 1941 their locations and composition had changed:
GOC: Major-General F.L.M. Crossman, DSO, MC (transferred from 1 AA Division)
32 AA Bde covering the East Midlands
78 HAA Rgt (part)
113 HAA Rgt (part) formed November 1940
27 LAA Rgt
38 LAA Rgt (part)
64 LAA Rgt (part)
41 S/L Rgt
44 S/L Rgt
58 S/L Rgt
40 AA Bde covering airfields
78 HAA Rgt (part)
30 LAA Rgt
36 S/L Rgt
64 S/L Rgt
72 (Middlesex) S/L Rgt
41 AA Bde covering East Anglia
78 HAA Rgt (part)
29 LAA Rgt
60 S/L Rgt
65 S/L Rgt
69 S/L Rgt
121 AA Z Battery formed by May 1941, equipped with Z Battery rocket projectiles
50 AA Bde covering Derby & Nottingham
67 HAA Rgt
113 HAA Rgt (part)
28 LAA Rgt
38 LAA Rgt (part)
64 LAA Rgt (part)
42 S/L Rgt
38 S/L Rgt (part)
50 S/L Rgt
2 AA Divisional Signals
In the Spring of 1941, 50 LAA Bde was split up, keeping the S/L regiments while a new 66 AA Bde took the HAA guns and rockets:
50 AA Bde
28 LAA Rgt
42 S/L Rgt
50 S/L Rgt
66 AA Bde
67 HAA Rgt
113 HAA Rgt
38 LAA Rgt
64 LAA Rgt
15 AA 'Z' Rgt
The division's order of battle thus contained a large number of S/L units. AA Command redeployed its S/L units during the summer of 1941 into 'Indicator Belts' of radar-controlled S/L clusters covering approaches to the RAF's Night-fighter sectors, repeated by similar belts covering AA Command's Gun Defence Areas (GDAs). Inside each belt was a 20-mile deep 'Killer Belt' of single S/Ls cooperating with night-fighters patrolling defined 'boxes'. The pattern was designed to ensure that raids penetrating deeply towards the Midlands GDAs would cross more than one belt, and the GDAs had more S/Ls at close spacing. The number of LAA units to protect Vital Points such as airfields was growing, albeit slowly.
After December 1941 the division's order of battle was as follows:
32 AA Bde
136 HAA Rgt (new regiment formed October 1941; left March–April 1942; returned June 1942)
45 LAA Rgt (from 41 AA Bde August 1942; left September 1942)
64 LAA Rgt (to 41 AA Bde by May 1942)
120 LAA Rgt (converted from S/L; joined September 1942)
134 LAA Rgt (new regiment joined February–March 1942; left May–June 1942)
41 S/L Rgt
44 S/L Rgt (to 66 AA Bde December 1941)
58 S/L Rgt
60 S/L Rgt (from 41 AA Bde January 1942; left and converted to 126 LAA February–March 1942)
65 S/L Rgt
40 AA Bde
30 LAA Rgt (left December 1941)
33 LAA Rgt (left December 1941)
96 LAA Rgt (new regiment joined December 1941; left by May 1942)
138 LAA Rgt (new regiment joined June 1942)
36 S/L Rgt
64 S/L Rgt (to 32 AA Bde, May–June 1942)
41 AA Bde
78 HAA Rgt (left April 1942)
82 HAA Rgt
106 HAA Rgt (from 66 AA Bde May 1942; left July 1942)
128 HAA Rgt (joined July 1942; left August 1942)
161 (Mixed) HAA Rgt (new regiment joined August 1942)
64 LAA Rgt (from 32 AA Bde by May 1942; left June 1942)
113 LAA Rgt (converted from S/L, joined March–April 1942)
126 LAA Rgt (converted from 60 S/L, joined Mary 1942)
60 S/L Rgt (to 32 AA Bde January 1942)
69 S/L Rgt
72 S/L Rgt
50 AA Bde
144 (Mixed) HAA Rgt (from 66 AA Bde August 1942)
20 LAA (joined August 1942)
111 LAA (left July 1942)
139 LAA (new regiment joined August 1942; left September 1942)
42 S/L Rgt
50 S/L Rgt (left May–June 1942)
15 AA 'Z' Rgt (from 66 AA Bde August 1942)
66 AA Bde
106 HAA Rgt (to 41 AA Bde May 1942)
113 HAA Rgt (left March 1942)
144 (Mixed) HAA Rgt (new regiment joined by May 1942; to 50 AA Bde August 1942)
38 LAA Rgt (left December 1941)
45 LAA Rgt (joined by May 1942; to 32 AA Bde August 1942)
44 S/L Rgt (from 32 AA Bde December 1941; left by May 1942)
15 AA 'Z' Rgt (to 50 AA Bde August 1942)
'Mixed' indicates that women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) were integrated into the unit.
The increased sophistication of Operations Rooms and communications was reflected in the growth in support units, which attained the following organisation by May 1942:
2 AA Division Mixed Signal Unit HQ, RCS
HQ No 1 Company
2 AA Division Mixed Signal Office Section
40 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
104 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
41 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
115 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
331 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
333 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
6 AA Line Maintenance Section
HQ No 2 Company
32 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
105 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
50 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
106 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
407 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
22 AA Sub-Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Sub-Section
24 AA Sub-Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Sub-Section
66 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
324 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
6 AA Line Maintenance Section
HQ 2 AA Div RASC
904, 929, 932 Companies
HQ 2 AA Div RAMC
2 AA Div Workshop Company, RAOC
2 AA Div Radio Maintenance Company, RAOC
The RAOC companies became part of the new Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during 1942.
66 AA Brigade HQ, with its signal section and transport company, left AA Command in August 1942 and came under War Office control ready to join First Army in the invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch).
Disbandment
2 AA Division, like the other AA Corps and Divisions, was disbanded and replaced on 1 October 1942 by a new AA Group structure. The Midlands and East Anglia were covered by 5 AA Group, headquartered at Hucknall. 2 AA Divisional Signals was apparently converted into the new Group signal unit.
General Officer Commanding
The following officers commanded 2nd AA Division:
Major-General James Harrison (1 September 1936–29 May 1939)
Major-General Maurice Grove-White (30 May 1939–10 November 1940)
Major-General Francis Crossman (12 November 1940–30 September 1942)
